A law enforcement official on the condition of anonymity broke the news of an NBA officiating scandal, that’s nice. It’s exactly what the world of sports needs right now, right? I mean, a steroid-monster is about to break the most hallowed records in sports, the NBA ruined their own playoffs with suspensions, Michael Vick's fighting dogs with his bare hands, Barbaro died, and the Cubs are above .500! Nothing makes sense anymore!
But what clearly does is a referee making calls to incorporate covering the spread. The only part of this that might be considered sad is no one noticed. No one pissed and moan. Why? Well, either because they’ll get fined, or because the officiating is just so awful, that no one saw a difference. The NBA tells its employees to shut their damn mouths, and do their jobs. Corporate America’s watching. So you’ve got to wonder, if any players are sitting around right now betting on who it is, I would be. I’m sure they’ve got a memory or two of a weird call going down in a part of the game where it probably didn’t matter if there was a whistle or not.
So how does this happen? The New York Post says that the referee in question has a gambling problem (what a surprise) and has been doing this over the past two seasons now. Not only that, but supposedly the mob is involved as well. He was approached by low-level mob member through an acquaintance, and of course he accepted, and began shaving points to cover the spread.
What can we do? The officiating has always sucked, but now it’s crooked too? Is he the only one involved? What games did he affect? Was he allowed in the playoffs? How did no one know? How many weird calls does it take to get into any amount of trouble with Lamell McMorris, the head of the NBA Referees Association. Does anybody watch game tape and judge these guys? Shouldn’t they get paid according to how little they screw up so things like this can be avoided?
No, obviously not. Keep your mouth shut, mind your business, and let Commissar Stern take care of it. We don’t pay you for your opinion.
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